Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine (Dec 2023)

Social participation during the COVID-19 pandemic in persons with a high risk for a severe course of COVID-19 – results of a longitudinal, multi-center observational study in Germany

  • Dominik Schröder,
  • Christina Müllenmeister,
  • Stephanie Heinemann,
  • Eva Hummers,
  • Frank Klawonn,
  • Kai Vahldiek,
  • Alexandra Dopfer-Jablonka,
  • Sandra Steffens,
  • Marie Mikuteit,
  • Jacqueline Niewolik,
  • Tobias R. Overbeck,
  • Jonathan Kallusky,
  • Gloria Königs,
  • Gloria Heesen,
  • Tim Schmachtenberg,
  • Frank Müller

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/21642850.2023.2249534
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11, no. 1

Abstract

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ABSTRACTObjective The COVID-19 pandemic has affected how people go about their daily lives, often in various and substantial ways. This study aims to prospectively evaluate the changes in social participation during the COVID-19 pandemic in persons with a high risk for a severe COVID-19 course in Germany.Methods A paper-pencil-based survey was conducted starting at March 2021. Participants filled out questionnaires at four time points based on their COVID-19 vaccination status: before COVID-19 vaccination, one month, six months and twelve months after COVID-19 vaccination. Social participation measures included the Pandemic Social Participation Questionnaire (PSP-Q) and the Index for measuring participation restrictions (IMET). Repeated measures ANOVA and paired t-test were used to test for changes between time-points. Repeated measures correlation was used to assess the relationship between social participation and local COVID-19 incidences.Results Data from 245 participants was analyzed before and one month after COVID-19 vaccination. In addition, data from 156 participants was analyzed at time points one, six and twelve months after COVID-19. PSP-Q and IMET scores changed significantly after participants received a COVID-19 vaccination. Between one month and twelve months after vaccination, social participation improved significantly measured by PSP-Q. Social participation was negatively correlated with regional COVID-19 incidences before and after COVID-19 vaccination. Social participation was positively correlated with COVID-19 incidences between one month and twelve months after COVID-19 vaccination.Conclusions Social participation improved in persons with a high risk for a severe COVID-19 course during the pandemic. The local COVID-19 incidence showed a negative association with social participation only until the fall of 2021 when it was used as the sole metric to regulate COVID-19 protective measures. Although our data describes the trends in social participation, further studies are needed to identify the influencing factors for the observed increase in social participation.

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